Television system



March 23, 1943. c. N. BATSEL 2,314,680.

TELEVISION fiYSTEM I Filed Jan. 10, 1941 g I%E %OR 0/ ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 23 1943 I T PATENf F FICE.

- TE EVISION SYSTEM Cecil N. Batsel, Camden, N. 1., assignor to Radio Corporation ware of America, a co iw ltion of Dela- Application January '10, 1941, Serial No. 313,814

' 1 Claim. v(c1. ts- 7.1),

This inventionjrelates to television systems, and

I more particularly, to improvements in studio 1 practice and technique in the production of television programs for transmission. In presenting television programs; it is necessary that there be no delay in changing from one scene to another during the transmission. Television production technique, therefore, is quite different from that of motion picture practice where the taking of the various scenes need notnecessarily follow the final order of presentation and where time between the photographing of scenes is of no consequence in regard to the final edited film. Moreover, the television transmitting system requiring so much more a paratus thanmotion picture work does not lend itself economicalls to the use of as many television cameras, and chains, as .one may use in motion picture practice. It is generally desirable to have at least two cameras "and, preferably. three cameras,

r A further object of. my invention to reduce" the number of television cameras required for televising a series of sequential scenes to a minimum. Another object of my invention, is to provide improved studio technique .in televising programs by' providing background projection and equipped with varying focal length lenses in a television production. The cameras are located at different angles with respect to the scene being televised, in order to supply a variety of shots? est.

- It will be readily apparent-that under these cirwhich is necessary to maintain the viewer's intercumstances in a production, where several scenes must be televised, difficulties are met in first being able to change scenes rapidly, and secondly, where separate scenes can be set up in advance in providing sufficient numbers of cameras to be trained upon the scene which is to be televised, following the televisingof a preceding-scene. In order to overcomethese dimculties, and to provide a rapid means of televising a series of scene in sequence with a minimum amount of cameraequipment,

form are series of stages 3|, set oil by partitions 5. In the figure. octagonal formis shown to my invention proposes to mount'the cameras in a central location to provide a plurality of scenes in acircle around thecentral location, and to I afford relative rotational movement between. the

cameras and the scenes. By having the scenes I laid out along radial lines, the shifting from one' scene to another may be readily accomplished without any substantial loss in time. At the same time, only a minimum number of cameras are required forthe purpose of affording the necessaryvariety of difierent viewsof ;a single scene. Backgroimd projection may beutilized to augment the scenic effect by providing transafford-a oly on of more than eight sides. Rear- I lucent projection screens to the rear of the scene.

Loud speakers may also be located to the rear of such a plan. the various scenes maybe setup I beforehand or even during the televising of one of the other scenes. By this arrangement, since the distances from the center camera location are substantially the same for all scenes, the televising of sequential scenes does not entail any loss'oi time arising from the necessity of refocusins the accompanying soundIefl'ects in a simple, emcient manner. 1

. Otherobjects of my invention will become ap- 20,

parent upon a reading of the following descrip tlon taken together with the drawing.

In the drawing, Fig.1"shows one embodiment of my invention, in which a circular platform is centrally located. with respect to a numberof stages, all of said stages being substantially-equidistant from the center of. the camera platform and in which the camera platform may be rotated. Fig. 2 shows a modification of my invention. wherein an annular platform supports the stages,- and is free to rotate about the camera platform.

Referring now to Fig. '1, I have shown the studio room IOI. A circular platform I, mounted as a turntable, is free to rotateaboiit its center.

Mounted upon the platform is a pluraliw oi teievision cameras 3. Located radially from the platprovlde eight stages ll -33--3l. It will be apple-- ciated. of course, that fewer stages may be-provided,.for example, 8. in which the shape would be hexagonal, or more stages may be provided to wardly of the stage from the camera position are placed rear projection screens 1, and the proiectors's are so located as to throw the image, which is to constitute the backgroundof the scene being televised, uponthe' screen I. The actual v sound broadcast may. be bridged instead of picked up by the microphone. The loud speakers II are also located rearwardly of the screen for repro- "ducing sound effects, which are to accompany the scene when such eflects are desired or necessary.

- the screens for accompanying sound effects. .By

Microphones 2! are suitably positioned on the stage 3| either by the-use of door stands or overhead booms topick up the voice of the actors and the sound efl'ects. if such are used. A sound monitoring studio I3 is provided, having a glass window from which theoperator may see-the cameramen operating the television cameras .3, and the monitoring booth I3. is equipped with a Eicture Engineers, July.

togetherwith. a monitor console I! and a monitoring-loud speaker il to. enable'the operator within thestudio llto appropriately set the levels for-theoutgoing sound channel accompanying the transmitted video sisnal from the cameras I. It will be appreciated of course. that only one of the cameras supplies a signal for transmission at any instant, and switching from one camera. to another of the plu- N to: -'provide of the cameras 8| mounted upon the platform rality of cameras takes place under the control of the director. This techlliqlle l8, course. well known, and is described both in the paper en-v titled "Television Studio Design" by MOlTis and Shelby, RCA Review, JilLY, 1937, pages 14-29, and

the paper entitled Television Studio Technic" by Protzman, Journal of the Society of- Motion 1939, pages 26-40.

A multiple mrntable from records, for example. pre-recorded sound effects to the loud speakers ll. mixing the production of a television show, following the televislna of'the scene on stage II, the vplatform Lbearing thetelevision cameras is II is also provided for 62. The technique during production, except for f. the fact that the stage platform 8'3 is rotated about the camera platform 82 is thus identical with the studio techniquein televising th production, as described above in connection with Fig. 1. Bymaking the stage platform 81 rotatable, it will be noted that only one projector and one rear projection screen is required, and consequently, the over-all studio equipment is resuch circumstances, the rear projector must thenrotatedsothatthecamerasbearonthescene on stage a. when the televising of the scene on the stage 33 is completed, and it is de-. sired. to go to the next scene, the platform I is again rotated so that the cameras bear on stage II and so on. .If a particular production being televised. has more than eight scenes, then upon the completion of televising of the first scene. on stage 3|, the set may be struck and the scene which isto be televised following-the eighth scene may then be set up on stage II- without interfering with the televising of scene on stage 38.

" It willthus be clearthat by this inventionf 1 only a minimum number of television cameras 1 for good program productionis required, and yet .1 or the rotating platform 91 of Fig. 2.

- i great 'flexibility is achieved in being able, to

smoothly effect transition from one scene to the next :It is, of course, understood that it is not necessary for the television camera channels to be open during the time the transition is being the amount of equipment necessary. a In Fig. 2

the circular platform 02 carries the television cameras 8|. An annular rotatable platform .1

surrounds the platform 02 and carries the stages 8|, .3 and 85 radially located with respect to g the center of the platform II.

within the studio room II and positioned in registerwith the cameras ii is a rear 0190'.- tion screen II. The screen II is displaced rear-- wardly of the stages and clear of the rotating rearwardly from the screen ll, viewed from the camera position, and sound effect loud speakers 7 11 are also provided rearwardly of the screen IL A microphone I. is provided for picking up the with respect to scene have its slides or film synchronized with the shifting from one stage to another. Alternatlvely. a second projector may be provided adja cent to the" rear projector and the second proiectorbroug-ht into action, when" the stage platform I1 is rotated 'so as to bring the stage ",for example. in register with the projection screen 1i, instead of synchronizing the changing of the rear projection scene with the shifting of thestages. It will, of course, be appreciated that it is not necessary, in many instances, to have rear pro- .iection screens 1 in'l lg. 1 or 19 in Fig. 2, since in certain scenes, it is merely sumcienttouse the conventional type of backamp, and under these circumstances the screens 1 and it may be omitted. V Any suitable construction or means may be used to provide the rotating platforms l other, i,

It will thus beappreciated that the present invention makes possible in a very simple fashion smooth television production with minimum of equipment and with a manila of flexibility What I claim is: I j A television transmitting system comprising a centrally positioned platform arrangement,

plurality of television cameras carried upon said platform, a plurality of stages each representing so-scenesto be televised, said stages being post ftioned substantially adjacent to each other in annular arrangement and arranged to surround platform II. A rear projector is positioned T sound accompanying the video signals from the cameras ii and may suitably be carried, for example, bya microphone boom clearing the partitions It. A sound control booth 63 is. equipped. with a window front 64, in order that the operator may see the cameramen on the platform 02.

vA console as is provided for mixing and-controlling the volume of the various sound channels I loud speaker l'l for the 1s v the said platform so that each' of the stagesls located substantially emu-distant from the center of said platform, means to rotate the an nular stage ,members relative to the circular platform an d the television cameras carried thereby to bring each of the plurality of stages successively in register with, the television cameras by relative movement of the stages and the platform, a back-drop screen located substantially adjacent the outer boundary of the annular stage elements and in the path of view of the television cameras, means for projecting back:

ground images upon said back-drop to provide backgrounds for the scenes televised on the stages, means for providing auxiliary, sound effects for the stages in register with the cameras, means to transmit the combined picture and sound effects from each one of the selected stages and means to limit instantaneously the picture transmission to the view I seen by any one of the/several television cameras.

l onen- N. arem. 

